Humans don’t use the word “magic” lightly—at least when it comes to what we eat (“big” or “extra”… well that’s another story). We understand magic to be otherworldly—drifting down to our humdrum lives from realms imagined—conjured by our longing for something more. Answers, or at least, possibilities, to explain this mysterious human condition. Perhaps.

One such otherworldly substance that may provide us a glimpse into something beyond is that of the fungus. Mushrooms offer us a panoply of benefits, from versatile culinary applications to the medicinal tonics revered for hundreds of uses, to the often dismissed by mainstream culture psycho-spiritual effects of the psilocybin aka the Magic Mushroom. But, its benefits may actually be the most significant of the mycelium family, as new research points to long-term benefits to human health… yes, from a mushroom trip.

Ethnobotanist Terence McKenna is perhaps the most well known proponent of psychedelic mushrooms. His research in the 1960s and ’70s is documented in a number of books including True Hallucinations and The Archaic Revival. McKenna found psilocybin an especially powerful spiritual guide, concluding that psychedelic experiences had a profoundly liberating and valuable effect on human consciousness. He said that a life lived “in the absence of the psychedelic experience that primordial shamanism is based on is life trivialized, life denied, life enslaved to the ego.”

Mushroom expert, author and founder of Fungi Perfecti, Paul Stamets says that mushrooms are more than just windows into the spirit world, but an intellingence with an awareness all its own. “[M]ycelium is an exposed sentient membrane, aware and responsive to changes in its environment,” says Stamets. “These membranes are aware, react to change, and collectively have the long-term health of the host environment in mind. The mycelium stays in constant molecular communication with its environment, devising diverse enzymatic and chemical responses to complex challenges.”

Now, a recent study coming out of the psychiatry and neuroscience department at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore further suggests that ingesting psychedelic mushrooms may also have long-lasting and profoundly positive personality transformations in as little as one dose, as observed in nearly 60 percent of the patients who participated in the study.

What the research team found was that the effects—in some cases lasting a year or more—left patients feeling a deeper sense of “openness” and a shift in key character aspects including the capacity for imagination, deeper connection to one’s feelings and an increased capacity for grasping abstract and conceptual ideas. Some patients cited it as one of the most significant spiritual experiences in their lives, seeing benefits in personal and professional relationships and improved ability in dealing with tough issues such as a major illness or the loss of a loved one.

Study author, professor Roland R. Griffiths, sees a possibility for therapeutic uses for the mushrooms, citing the long-lasting benefits experienced by the study participants who exhibited increased happiness and expanded capacity for creativity and openness brought about by the hallucinatory nature of their psilocybin mushroom “trip.”

MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) has been conducting similar research with drugs like MDMA (commonly known as the street drug Ecstasy) as an effective tool in treating post-traumatic stress disorder particularly in returning soldiers, with impressive results also coming as a result of a single session.

Unlike anti-depressants and other mood-altering drugs, psychedelics are not taken daily, and the side effects are significantly fewer than those of long-term drug regimens, if at all, offering one more benefit to users. But more research is still needed on the effects of psilocybin, says Griffith, who adds that people should not experiment with mushrooms at home. These tests were strictly controlled in a safe, clinical environment.

]]>4 Ways to Map Out Your Décorhttp://www.organicauthority.com/sanctuary/4-ways-to-decorate-with-maps.html
Sat, 20 Aug 2011 06:01:32 +0000http://www.organicauthority.com/s2-sanctuary/c5-sanctuary/4-ways-to-decorate-with-maps/image: Sterin In a world filled with GPS systems and smart phones, the traditional paper map (even as it turns obsolete) still possesses a certain beauty. Antique versions provide us with a link to the past; through them we can see snapshots of a moment in time. People have created maps since before the Greeks, but […]

In a world filled with GPS systems and smart phones, the traditional paper map (even as it turns obsolete) still possesses a certain beauty. Antique versions provide us with a link to the past; through them we can see snapshots of a moment in time. People have created maps since before the Greeks, but map-making really exploded during the Renaissance. The invention of printing coincided with the age of exploration, which lead to a map-making boom as new places were discovered more quickly. Today, maps still give off that air of sea-faring adventure. Add a little thrill to your home by repurposing maps as eco-friendly decoration. Explore these four ideas.

1. Map bulletin board or inspiration board

Take an old map and use it to line the center of a bulletin board. The interesting details in the vintage map will add a little bit of oomph to a bulletin board’s usual cork exterior. If you’re planning a vacation or a quick getaway soon (or maybe just dreaming for the future), use your map-covered board as inspiration for your trip. Tack up magazine cutouts of distant locales. Write down your personal goal of seeing the Mona Lisa or eating a new cuisine and put it on the board where you can see it every day. Use pushpins to “mark the spot” of your dream destinations. However you choose to decorate your board, it’s bound to get that travel bug in you all riled up.

2. Line an end table, dresser or desk

Add a little old world charm to an end table, dresser or desk using maps. Cut an old map to fit the surface of an end table, dresser or desk. At your local hardware store, buy a piece of glass cut to fit the top of the piece of furniture. Then simply place the map on the piece of furniture, and the glass on top. Voilà. A complete makeover without the pain of sanding, painting or staining anything.

3. Make book covers

If you’re feeling a little, well, over the arrangement on your bookshelves, easily liven up your usual display of books by creating book covers out of old maps. Lining up your map-covered books along a shelf will create a uniform, but visually interesting, look.

4. Frame it

Even your 1996 road map of the state of Missouri can look exciting when framed and hung on the wall. Maps, be they antique or modern, always catch the eye, drawing the viewer in for closer inspection. For a more modern look, cut a map into pieces and frame each piece separately. Rearrange all of the pieces to fit together on the wall like a puzzle. Talk about some cheap art.

]]>FDA Study Approval Brings Marijuana One Step Closer to Treating PTSDhttp://www.organicauthority.com/blog/organic/fda-study-approval-brings-marijuana-one-step-closer-to-treating-ptsd/
Wed, 11 May 2011 07:00:26 +0000http://www.organicauthority.com/blog/?p=9225Last month, the FDA gave its approval in the use of marijuana for proposed research studies to be conducted by MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies) aimed at treating individuals suffering with the debilitating effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The proposed study, which is targeted specifically at treating 50 war veterans suffering with PTSD, […]

Last month, the FDA gave its approval in the use of marijuana for proposed research studies to be conducted by MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies) aimed at treating individuals suffering with the debilitating effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The proposed study, which is targeted specifically at treating 50 war veterans suffering with PTSD, addressed specific concerns and met protocol required by the FDA, but the study will not actually begin until another review process is completed with the National Institute on Drug Abuse/Public Health Service (NIDA/PHS), which could take more than a year before approved. If green-lighted, this would mark the first-ever clinical trials testing the effects and/or benefits of smoking, eating or vaporizing marijuana plants by PTSD patients.

Through extensive hearings, lawsuits and appeals that have gone on for more than the last ten years, MAPS has been working to prove its case and gain government support for their research plan, but the DEA has continually refused acceptance of its own Administrative Law Judge’s recommendation that further exploration into the potential medicinal benefits of marijuana be considered a viable treatment.

University of Massachusetts at Amherst Professor Lyle Craker is seeking a license to grow marijuana for the research program, which is regulated by the FDA, but also needs a final approval from the DEA in order to move forward.

While medical marijuana is legal in some States, it is prescribed primarily for physiological ailments including treatment of glaucoma, arthritis and cancer. It is not currently prescribed as a treatment for PTSD. Previous work by MAPS in treating PTSD includes the street drug, ecstasy.

]]>Healing With Ecstasy: MDMA and PTSDhttp://www.organicauthority.com/health/healing-with-ecstasy-mdma-and-ptsd-post-traumatic-stress-disorder.html
Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:00:00 +0000http://www.organicauthority.com/s5-health/c8-health/healing-with-ecstasy-mdma-and-ptsd-post-traumatic-stress-disorder/Psychedelic experience inducing plants have been ingested by humans since the dawn of man—and some experts suggest our exposure to them is directly responsible for our cognitive development that make us so different from the rest of life on earth. Cultures have and continue to embrace the remarkable healing benefits and deeply personal awakenings offered […]

Psychedelic experience inducing plants have been ingested by humans since the dawn of man—and some experts suggest our exposure to them is directly responsible for our cognitive development that make us so different from the rest of life on earth. Cultures have and continue to embrace the remarkable healing benefits and deeply personal awakenings offered through psychedelic journey medicines such as ayahuasca, ibogaine and psilocybin mushrooms. And research has made some startling discoveries recently in using the modern street drug, MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), commonly known as Ecstasy, in effectively treating Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

To understand the relevance of MDMA’s use in treating psychological trauma, we must journey back before plants were drugs and considered criminal, and understood simply as powerful organic healers and windows to the soul—teachers and guides for individuals as well as the collective consciousness of entire tribes.

The Amazonian brew, ayahuasca (eye-ah-wahska), has long been revered by South American cultures. It has inspired invention, art and music, and a respectful embrace of nature and community that has thrived in these traditions for millennia. Ayahuasca’s magical life-changing secrets have sent modern Westerners deep into the rainforest to drink this mixture in an effort to treat cancer and other ailments, coming out both physically purged and personally transformed by the intense hallucinatory visions often revealing clarity about their own purpose and spirituality. Likewise, many have journeyed to Africa to ingest Ibogaine with the Bwiti tribe to treat heroin addictions, or sat with Huichol Indians in peyote ceremonies. Even the milder marijuana is now on the verge of being sold alongside over-the-counter meds. It’s decriminalized in some parts of the U.S., and sold legally for a number of medical conditions in others, and has long enjoyed legal status in countries like Amsterdam, which boasts some of the lowest drug crime statistics in the world.

The advent of industry led to powerful synthetic chemistry lab knock-off versions of plant medicines, like LSD, which in addition to being the drug of choice for the 1960’s “tune in drop out” revolution, was also used throughout the 20th century by the governement and psychological researchers.

MDMA’s benefits were discovered by accident. The Merck pharmaceutical company developed the chemical in 1912 in trials for another medication, and it sat virtually untested until 60 years later when MDMA founds its way into the hands of Alexander Shulgin. A former Dow chemist who tested the drug on himself resulting in a euphoric state, a “cleanliness, clarity, and marvelous feeling of solid inner strength,” he wrote after his first trip.

After MDMA became illegal and classified as a Schedule 1 drug in 1985, Ecstasy became a popular party drug in the 1980s and 1990s even amidst a reputation of leading to brain and neurological damage (although street Ecstasy is often cut down containing little if any MDMA). But therapists saw another option and began successfully treating veterans and patients who had survived abuse, rapes and other tragedies.

Thousands of practitioners have been using MDMA in underground clinics for decades. But the risks are warranted they say, noting that patients who took MDMA reported feeling more self-respect, compassion and full of love. Rape victims and anorexics with body image issues finally felt comfortable in their skin. Married couples successfully saved relationships by using MDMA to recover buried feelings not felt since honeymoons.

MDMA provides its users with a surge in serotonin and dopamine—the feel-good neurochemicals that reduce our sense of pain, elicit pleasure, happiness and feelings of being in love, without the involuntary hallucinations common in other psychedelic drugs. It temporarily suppresses function of the amygdala, which is responsible for feelings of fear and anxiety. Traumatic memories and apprehensions associated with patients’ negative experiences are numbed during an MDMA session. It can also pose great risks, including increased heart rate and blood pressure, sweating, difficulty breathing, and if mixed with some antidepressants, it can even lead to death.

The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies‘ (MAPS) top priority since the 1980’s has been funding clinical trials of MDMA as a therapeutic tool to assist psychotherapy treatment of PTSD and other illnesses. According to their Web site, “Companies cannot profit off of MDMA because it is only administered a limited number of times, unlike most medications for mental illnesses that are taken on a daily basis.” Which may be why MAPS is the only organization funding clinical trials of MDMA therapy in the world.

Charles Shaw, author of Exile Nation: Drugs, Prisons, Politics & Spirituality and director of the companion film project says that a rescheduling of MDMA is likely in the future, “Because of the severity of the veteran [PTSD] problem, and because Israel is already using it successfully.”

Though MDMA is being embraced by many therapists, the majority of mainstream psychologists point toward PTSD successfully being treated through behavioral therapies such as Prolonged Exposure in as little as 4 months, and they suggest there is no need for MDMA or other controversial drug treatments. But Shaw says that “MDMA is empathogenic and is very conducive for being guided through emotional traumas by a therapist because participants are more trusting and in a less defensive state so they can achieve a lot in a short session.”

And what’s happening with patients who use MDMA is consistent with what’s been documented by tribal cultures using psychedelic plant medicines for thousands of years. Those feelings of euphoria, love and compassion reported to help individuals process their own traumas also help to reconnect them with people they love, make them generally less stressed, and have healed long-standing physical and psychological ailments, and, perhaps most significantly, it opens them up to those invisible realms of what it means to be a human processing the inherent struggles and joys of simply being alive.

As we see with recent movements in organic agriculture and passion for developing deeper ecological connections experienced through eating locally, growing our own and eliminating processed foods, there are vital lessons to be learned from the earth’s medicines too. And even if the portal to do that right now is with a synthesized drug, it perhaps is just a catalyst to a greater web of consciousness connecting humans to themselves, each other and the entire universe in a more organic way. Says, Shaw, ” MDMA was given to us for a reason.”